Parents will be able to check police records if they fear someone they know
maybe be a paedophile, the government has said, in a version of the
controversial 'Sarah's Law'.

Despite ministers admitting of concerns the laws could spark a wave of claims, officers will be able to tell worried parents about the history of someone who has access to their children, if they think they could be dangerous.

They will give out details of convictions, arrests and acquittals for child sex and violence offences as well as unproven suspicions kept on file.

Critics said the scheme was a "return to witch trials" which would create a climate of unnecessary suspiction.

Police want single mothers to ask for information about their new boyfriends and believe those under suspicion will welcome the opportunity to prove they have nothing to hide.

Grandparents and neighbours can also demand that police look into the records of anyone - even teenagers - who come into contact with their friends' or family members' children.

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Officers, meanwhile, will pass on the results of their investigation to the child's parents, carers or guardians.

The pilot schemes, which come into force in four police forces across England, are being set up following a campaign for "Sarah's Law" - the public disclosure of the names and addresses of paedophiles named in honour of Sarah Payne.

The campaign was established after the eight year-old was murdered by convicted sex offender, Roy Whiting, in 2000.

Officers, however, said the new scheme does not go that far as measures called on by child protection campaigners.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: "Giving parents the ability to find out if someone close to their child poses a risk will empower them."

Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister, admitted there were concerns that "huge numbers of claims" could be made by worried parents but he insisted: "We don't believe that doing nothing is appropriate and in the best interests of our children." Critics however, warn the scheme would create a climate of suspicion with thousands of innocent people having their lives scrutinised.

They also fear it could lead to vigilante attacks on people found to have child sex convictions.

The announcement comes after The Telegraph revealed that all adults who work with children and are accused of abuse must be investigated by council officers and have details of the claim, even if it was totally malicious, kept on their personnel records until they retire.

In addition, 11.3 million people who work or volunteer with under-16s will from next year have their backgrounds scrutinised by a new vetting body.

Guy Herbert, general secretary of the civil liberties group No2ID, said: "It's virtually a return to the witch trials, and is the logical conclusion of our zero-trust society. Everybody is being encouraged to be suspicious of everybody else.

"The police won't be able to isolate the information once they release it, and it will be full of unsubstantiated allegations and suspicions. It is potentially incredibly dangerous."

Donald Findlater, of the child protection charity Lucy Faithfull Foundation, added: "The biggest risk to children is not from the registered sex offender who the police know and are managing; it is from the sex offender who is not registered and who no one knows about."

Under the pilot schemes, which will run for a year in Warwickshire and parts of Cambridgeshire, Cleveland and Hampshire, anyone can phone or email police to request information on someone who lives in the same area and has regular and unsupervised access to children - whether they work with them or see them socially.

Within 24 hours, officers will check criminal records to see if the child is at immediate risk from the adult.

Over the next 10 days they will contact social services and child protection bodies, in order to look deeper into the subject's past.

If they uncover any evidence that the subject has a record for child sex offences, neglect or domestic violence they will disclose it to the parent or carer. If a grandparent or neighbour made the request, the information would not be passed to them but directly to the parent.

If the parent chooses not to act on the information, police or social services may step in.

Paul West, the Chief Constable of West Mercia police, said: "If there is no support from that parent then the agencies would have to work through what can be done."

He believes subjects may be happy to take part in the investigations, however.

Mr West said: "A woman who has had bad experiences in the past, meets someone and is keen to settle down.

"They talk through this and the subject is party to this, to get a third-party assurance to the clean bill of health which he claims to have."

Police may also choose to disclose that the subject is merely "showing worrying behaviour", or was arrested or acquitted of a crime.

A leaflet produced about the scheme states: "Even if a subject doesn't have a record for child sex offences it doesn't mean that he or she is not potentially a risk."

Sara Payne, the mother of the murdered schoolgirl, said: "I would hope this becomes a routine, when you have a strange person in your life." Police insist all applications will be checked before information is released to the public, and warn they may take action against anyone who shares details with others or makes it public.

The pilots could lead to a nationwide scheme if they are deemed a success.